


that was impressive

by yawnralphio



Series: Fictober20 [6]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Discussion of Disordered Eating, Gen, fictober20, it's not buddie but it's not NOT buddie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26958919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawnralphio/pseuds/yawnralphio
Summary: Buck realizes something important at family dinner.(Spoilers for 3x18)
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Maddie Buckley
Series: Fictober20 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967260
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	that was impressive

Knives and Maddie Buckley seemed to go together like a house on fire. She was a wizard, chopping up various vegetables as she worked to put the finishing touches on the dinner they were putting together.

Every few minutes she’d hand him a bowl of pristinely chopped vegetables, and Buck would go through the trouble of plating it. Their method was tried and true, largely because Maddie, being the older of the two, had always been the one in charge of the sharps. In their younger days, Buckley family dinners largely consisted of just the two of them, and they often had to make do with whatever their parents had lying around in the fridge.

They’d gotten quite good at improvising, but now that they both lived in Los Angeles, they’d fallen back into old routines of eating together at least once a week. Over time, Chimney had started tagging along, and now that he was back in Eddie’s good graces, the Diazes had been regularly invited as well.

What had once been a quiet, dejected affair had grown into something warm and joyful. Tonight they were celebrating, but Maddie wouldn’t tell him what for.

For the most part, they worked in silence. There was a roast resting on the stove behind them, and they were just finishing up the salad toppings when Buck broke tradition. He glanced sideways at his sister and noted the color in her face, the certainty with which she held herself and the knife in her hands. She had changed after her ordeal with Doug, like she’d finally shed the remnants of the person he’d tried so hard to force her to be.

The few times Buck had gone to visit her, she’d been thin and pale, a special kind of nervous that had never presented in his sister before. The difference was night and day, and he couldn’t be happier that she’d gotten free of the asshole.

“You know, it’s nice to see you eating enough to put on weight,” he said, accepting the pile of red onions she had just finished chopping. Eddie whooped from the living room, a belated cheer echoing from Christopher.

Maddie froze, her grip on the cutting board tightening enough to whiten her knuckles. “What?” Her voice was higher pitched, strained. She must not have noticed it, but then, little changes like that weren’t easy to see.

“Yeah,” Buck nodded, adding the bowl of onions to the rest of his assembly. “Doug was so controlling with what you ate and how you looked, it’s just nice to see that you don’t care about it anymore.” He turned, pinching her side. “You look human again.”

Eddie cheered again, shared a high five with his son, and then stood. He moved toward them with his empty beer and slid onto one of the stools at the island, rolling the bottle between his hands.

Maddie pursed her lips and set the knife down. She wiped her hands and then turned, setting them on her hips. “Evan Buckley,” she said - practically growled - and the hair at the back of Buck’s neck rose, along with Eddie’s eyebrows. She only used that voice when she was pissed, and she only used his full name when she was really pissed.

“What?” Buck frowned, looking from her to Eddie. He was met with a shrug.

“For the record, you don’t need to comment on what I eat. You especially don’t need to comment on how I look. If I wanted your opinion, I’d ask.” She untied the knot of her apron in short, jerky movements.

“What?” Buck repeated, his brow furrowing in his confusion. “Maddie, no, I meant that in a good way!”

Maddie threw her apron down on the counter, her brown eyes sparkling with fury. “In what universe is telling a woman she’s getting fat a good thing, Evan?" 

He winced at the use of his first name. She was a force to be reckoned with on her best day; a pissed off Buckley was truly something else, and Buck knew that better than anyone.

"Maddie,” he said slowly, holding his hands out like he was trying to calm a wild animal. “You’re glowing! You’re -”

“Shut up!” Maddie cried, reaching for a handful of the lettuce sitting next to them. She threw it in Buck’s face and turned, marching toward the door without a look back. He watched her go, dumbstruck, and didn’t move until the front door slammed shut behind her.

He turned and stared at Eddie with his mouth hanging open, palms up.

“That was impressive,” Eddie said, hiding a smirk behind his fingers.

“What just happened,” Buck grumbled, delicately picking lettuce off his shirt and tossing it onto the pile of vegetable trimmings.

“Dude.” Eddie looked at him like he’d grown a second head, or like he wasn’t using the one he already had.

“Oh,” Buck said, realizing the last thing he’d said to her. “Maddie!” He yelled, jogging over to the front door. He pulled up short when he opened the door to see Maddie and Chimney in a heated discussion on the other side. They both turned to look at him, and he grinned.

All three of them spoke at once: “You’re pregnant!” Buck cried, holding his hands out toward her belly as if he were presenting it; “I’m pregnant.” Maddie admitted with a shrug; “She’s _pregnant_!” Chimney announced, holding up a bottle of champagne in one hand and fancy apple cider in the other.

Buck laughed and pulled her into a hug so tight that she had to pat him on the head to be released, because he’d squeezed the air out of her lungs. He set her down and took her face in his hands, turning it this way and that as though seeing her in a new light.

“We were going to tell you tonight, you jerk,” she said, her voice full of barely contained laughter as she smacked his chest with the back of her hand. “You’re going to be an uncle.”

Eddie materialized beside him, setting a hand on his shoulder. “Congratulations,” he said, his smile so wide it made the laugh lines appear at the corners of his eyes.

“You too,” Maddie said, turning her impish smile on him. “ _Uncle_ Eddie.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://yawnralphio.tumblr.com).
> 
> Reblog [here](https://yawnralphio.tumblr.com/post/631253401193365504/6-that-was-impressive-fox-911-mentions-of-an).


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